Renewable biomass feedstocks for production of sustainable biodegradable polymer

This review highlights the uses of renewable and low-cost biomass feedstocks for the production of biodegradable polymers via bacterial fermentation especially in polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). The high production costs of PHAs, particularly substrate cost, limit its application. The utilization of industrial by-products such as whey, molasses, glycerol, cellulosic material, and waste oil as an alternative carbon feedstock is addressed by many researchers, due to the characterization of inexpensive, abundant, contains high sugar and oil contents. Furthermore, these industrial byproducts can be exploited for reducing the production costs and accelerate the application of the PHA at large scale. It is evident from a literature survey about 45 recently published journals within the past 20 years that renewable and low-cost biomass feedstocks have demonstrated high PHA production.